I have been an audiophile for quite some time. One of the things I have come to realize is the importance that a "gold standard" or reference of sound is hugely important. How do you know what is possible with two speakers and good electronics if you have never heard it? It seems that a lot of time and effort is spent changing gear (which can be fun and expensive) in the pursuit of "clarity" of sound and more details. Why? I think because this is the first reference point that we are all blown away by when we hear our first rather poorly setup system in the local hifi shop. Of course I did this for a while because I didn't know any better. That was my reference point. Then, I vividly remember hearing my first setup where there was an actual soundstage and imaging. I was blown away. Prior to this point in time I simply didn't have a good reference point for this aspect of in-home music reproduction. I didn't know what was possible. Since then I discovered the aspects of real dynamics and purity of tone. All of these combine to give the real illusion of hearing a performance in your room. But, circling back, how do I know what is possible until I hear it. Maybe there is another aspect I will hear some day in someone's system.
All of this came to mind and inspired this post as this past week I vacationed in Canada. While I was there I visited a local Hifi store. The owner of the store was great. Very friendly, accommodating and very knowledgeable. While there he invited me to listen to his main room. A nice size room that I would estimate at 16' wide X 23' Long X 10' high. The room was treated with some GIK acoustics corner traps and panels along the sides. He had a nice pair of speakers ($65K/pair French design) and well regarded electronics (also of French origin) and a very highly regarded 13" subwoofer. I am not mentioning the brands or the dealer specifically because that is not really the point. The dealer had taken great care in positioning the speakers. I was thinking this is going to be awesome.
He queued up a track that I wasn't really familiar with as he commented that this one was really hard for most systems to pull off. It really showcased the vast soundstage (both wide and deep) and pin point imaging this system had to offer. I was suitably impressed. This was quite the feat in speaker positioning. I asked if he could play a song I was familiar with. We played this song which has great macro dynamics and also an ethereal sound complete with female vocals. There was hardly any bass. The dynamics were really bad. I asked if the sub was on -- Yes. Then he wanted to play a song. It was female vocals with piano accompaniment. The piano didn't sound like a piano and was detached from the vocals -- poor tone. This system had checked my first two boxes and a younger me would have been really wowed. But since my reference point shifted I would never consider buying that speaker or electronics based on that demo.
I am definitely not saying that I know everything or even have the perfect reference. I am still learning and growing. I just think that we should try and be better educated on what is possible. Get out there and listed to as many systems as possible. Find out who has the "best" system and go listen to it. The example above could be your new reference for what is possible with soundstage and imaging -- who knows? And, for example, I know Jim Smith offers up a visit to hear his system for a relatively small fee. Why not go hear what a person who has been in the industry for 30 years thinks is reference sound?
You don't know what you don't know.
~Todd
All of this came to mind and inspired this post as this past week I vacationed in Canada. While I was there I visited a local Hifi store. The owner of the store was great. Very friendly, accommodating and very knowledgeable. While there he invited me to listen to his main room. A nice size room that I would estimate at 16' wide X 23' Long X 10' high. The room was treated with some GIK acoustics corner traps and panels along the sides. He had a nice pair of speakers ($65K/pair French design) and well regarded electronics (also of French origin) and a very highly regarded 13" subwoofer. I am not mentioning the brands or the dealer specifically because that is not really the point. The dealer had taken great care in positioning the speakers. I was thinking this is going to be awesome.
He queued up a track that I wasn't really familiar with as he commented that this one was really hard for most systems to pull off. It really showcased the vast soundstage (both wide and deep) and pin point imaging this system had to offer. I was suitably impressed. This was quite the feat in speaker positioning. I asked if he could play a song I was familiar with. We played this song which has great macro dynamics and also an ethereal sound complete with female vocals. There was hardly any bass. The dynamics were really bad. I asked if the sub was on -- Yes. Then he wanted to play a song. It was female vocals with piano accompaniment. The piano didn't sound like a piano and was detached from the vocals -- poor tone. This system had checked my first two boxes and a younger me would have been really wowed. But since my reference point shifted I would never consider buying that speaker or electronics based on that demo.
I am definitely not saying that I know everything or even have the perfect reference. I am still learning and growing. I just think that we should try and be better educated on what is possible. Get out there and listed to as many systems as possible. Find out who has the "best" system and go listen to it. The example above could be your new reference for what is possible with soundstage and imaging -- who knows? And, for example, I know Jim Smith offers up a visit to hear his system for a relatively small fee. Why not go hear what a person who has been in the industry for 30 years thinks is reference sound?
You don't know what you don't know.
~Todd
